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It seems, from the article, that the event was to satirize rednecks, not black people. If there were some students at the school from southern states that are stereotyped as rednecks, they might have well have found the event offensive as well.

Teenagers tend to be thoughtless and have some dumb ideas sometimes, even if they don't mean anything serious about spoofing some stereotypes and/or traditions. A very good reason not to lower the voting age (as has been proposed occasionally). With rare exceptions, most teenagers are still "kids" who act spontaneously and fail to see the consequences of their actions.

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

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Redneck is a culture, a community, not defined by race or origin, more of a culture you have adopted. There are plenty of Rednecks who aren't white, so saying that Redneck segregates members of the black community or any other is a lie. Rednecks aren't offended about being "a redneck". This is a case of everyone is so easily offended about everything that takes place on a daily basis, this practice is sickening. I think the "Reverend" would be better served dealing with the issues of the nations moral decay rather than telling us about his teenage grandson crying like a girl.

And the flag in question represents the southern states, not slavery, not racism, not segregation, but the southern states.

It seems, from the article, that the event was to satirize rednecks, not black people. If there were some students at the school from southern states that are stereotyped as rednecks, they might have well have found the event offensive as well.

interesting that we from "appalachia" and "southern states" enjoy others highlighting our "stereotypical" attitudes and actions. why does it make everyone else so angry? i have never viewed the label "redneck" as even having a schred of racial reference to it. for that matter i have traveled all over these united states from new england to southern california and i enjoyed the company of folk i would have charachterized as "redneck" everywhere.

now if they would have held "clan day", wore white sheets and instead of prom queen and king, elected prom "grand wizardess and wizard" from the student body......different matter entirely and something for a good minister to spend time crying about!

when one of my daughters was in high school during homecoming week they had "hip hop wednesday". this was six or seven years ago. when she came down for breakfast she had a clock the size of a dinner plate on a chain around her neck, a "viking hat" with tin foil horns and saggy pants on. she told me she was "flava-flave" or some such nonsense as that. she explained that he was formerly with "public enemy"(or something similar) and had a reality show. i said, "honey, are most of these rappers not womanizers, mysoginists, drug users and lawless thugs?" she said, "no dad, they are musicians!" so i told her not to get overly into charachter and to have a good day at school. i will post the picture of her if i can find it, very funny i thought. i didn't know i was missing an opportunity to spend a day crying and writing an article for usa today.

I remember a song "A Few More Rednecks" by the great Charlie Daniels. I don't remember the lyrics mentioning anything about race. It sums up my thoughts on being a redneck pretty well. Hell, growing up I didn't know anybody that wasn't a redneck!

It seems, from the article, that the event was to satirize rednecks, not black people. If there were some students at the school from southern states that are stereotyped as rednecks, they might have well have found the event offensive as well.

Teenagers tend to be thoughtless and have some dumb ideas sometimes, even if they don't mean anything serious about spoofing some stereotypes and/or traditions. A very good reason not to lower the voting age (as has been proposed occasionally). With rare exceptions, most teenagers are still "kids" who act spontaneously and fail to see the consequences of their actions.

All of you don't know it but Gerry and I lived only a small distance apart when I worked for IBM from 67-72 in Kingston NY. I wonder what the PC would think today about my nickname of "Rebel" when I worked there. Frankly I enjoyed it. To be sure most of the 4000 or so who worked there knew me even if I did not know them. Those especially from Conn. would ask me to recite words such as "night, right, fight, and light" just to hear me talk. I took no offense, in fact I thought it rather funny. I was questioned about segregation in the South and I always responded that there was more segregation in NY than we ever had in the South. They had Polish, Jewish, and Irish neighborhoods just to name a few.

The funniest question was the one where the Civil War was described in detail without actually saying Civil War and asking me what we called it in the South. My response was always that "we called it the war of oppression". That got laughs. I encountered those who actually thought I got my first pair of shoes when I came north. Again, funny, I thought. My roommate was Catholic child of Polish immigrants, still a good friend. He was in my wedding and I in his. I always kidded him that he could not find his way out of a wet paper bag if there was no subway sign to tell him how. He lived in NJ within sight of the Manhattan skyline.

But seriously, I really never took any offense at the things I was asked nor the preconceptions of my heritage. It just made me realize how ignorant of the different cultures from different parts of the country that we are. Actually for the most part, I found the people of NY to be no different than those around whom I was raised. All of us wanted a good place to live and raise our kids. All of were ignorant to some extent in our different cultures. One thing most common was the tolerance of each other and each one's culture once we met and got to know each other. My time in NY was a happy and educational experience which brings fond memories.